Hello

I have a thread on this forum entitled 'Need advice choosing please' and have had lots of great advice from you lovely people. The big day has come though and I am going to look at a Landy tomorrow (sunday) at 10.30am in Hereford (HR1). I was wondering whether anyone out there who lives in the Hereford area would be kind enough to meet me there and look over the vehicle with me as I don't know anyone knowledgeable who will come with me and it is one year too old to be within the AA's remit for vehicle testing. I would pay you either in cash or in beer and slap-up pub lunch -whichever you prefer! ��

You might want to take your mobile number off and deal in PMs instead...

Good luck with your choice

Hmmmm - yeah you're right. Removed! 😊

becstar said:

Hmmmm - yeah you're right. Removed! 😊

Click to expand...

Did you go and look?

Bit of a way from here but I'd be happy to give it the once over out of working hours

Hi blue beasty!

Thank you very much for your kind offer but I have been to see it already. It was a 2005 td5 advertised as 'mint' and 'immaculate'. I took a checklist and a 'things to look out for' list that I found on Landy forums and also my Haynes manual. I crawled all over it the best i could but a few things made me walk away:

- The engine was hot when I got there. I asked him why he'd run it and he said 'to change the number plate'???
- The chassis seemed OK but just 'ok' for a 10 year old Landy.
- The bodywork was fairly tidy (no obvious rust patches) but he had done a really bad job of filling the holes where a snorkle used to be and also paint stripped down to the metal where the fittings of a roofrack used to be.
- the rear cross member (which he said he'd just had painted -alarm bells!!) had different tones when I knocked along it with my knuckles. Sign that rust is coming through.
- The flange on the exhaust pipe was severely corroded, flaking apart in my fingers.
- the reverse lights didn't work and when he took the bulb out, it was full of mud and I mean full!
- handbrake cable was slack
- there was water in both footwells under the mats (there was rain last night and this morning so I can only assume there's some kind of leak. He said it's because he washed it this morning but there was no trace of water anywhere else and water ingress is water ingress no matter what the source!
- headlamp mountings were severely corroded
- sump was leaking oil (not sure if the amount was an 'acceptable' amount by Landy standards but not having much experience to judge, i erred on the side of caution.
- still not sure about a td5 - think I definitely want a 300tdi.

All in all, even though these things may be fairly minor, I didn't think the vehicle commanded a price tag of 10K. Maybe I was over critical and cautious? Maybe not, but my gut feeling said walk away. I actually feel quite proud of myself and it has given me confidence for next time.

Still on the look out - just read an article in Land Rover magazine about the Defender Wolf. Army are getting rid of all their 90 Wolf Defenders. They have 300tdi engines and strengthened chassis - maybe one of these could be a possibility? Think I might take a look into one!!

Thanks again

mine come from hereford,this guy deals in them https://www.facebook.com/julian.kotting?fref=ts

Good for you all too easy to buy the first one you see.

congratulations on a good decision !!!

If it did not feel right YOU where right to walk, Keep looking you will find the right one

Don't forget Army wolves have a 24v system and not sure if they have a turbo

Thanks for the dealer link (although I am actually in Dudley in the West mids - I travelled to Hereford because I thought this one was worth looking at). And thanks for the reassurance that I did the right thing!😀 You are a great bunch and I really appreciate your comments and help😀